It is valid for a woman to lead the formal prayer!

While edition Aisha Bewley translation of Ibn Arabi’s Futuhat al-makkiyya, “The Mysteries of Formal Prayer,” Paragraphs 593-595 I learned that Ibn Arabi has ruled that a woman can lead the formal prayer! Here is what the section says:

24.5.2. The Interpretation of the Leadership [of the Formal Prayer] of a Woman
The interpretation in that is that the Messenger of God testified that some women are perfect as he testified that some men are perfect, even if there are more perfect men than women. This is prophethood and prophethood is leadership, so it is valid for a woman to be a leader of the formal prayer. The basic root is to permit her to act as a leader. Whoever forbids that without any proof should not be listened to. The one who forbids that has no text. His proof of that includes something else and is shared. Therefore, the proof falls away and the basic root of allowing her to be a leader remains. (593)
Know that man is a world in himself and is multiple in respect of meaning, even if he is small in volume. For this reason, He says: “You only we worship” with the nun of the plural. He made his limbs and outward and inward faculties follow what rules them and is ahead of them. That is the intellect, the self and passion. Each of them can act as a leader to the group at any one time. All acts of obedience are close to the intellect. Permitted actions are close to the self. Acts of opposition are close to passion. (594)
The intellect is told: “When your self is fed up with following you in immediate matters and imitating you when you are the leader and it advances in permitted matters and becomes your leader, then follow it and pray behind it in order to guard it so that passion will not deceive it. If passion follows it in that state, it might pull it into the forbidden.” In places like this, the leadership of the self is permitted. This is the leadership of a woman. The leadership of the intellect is in the position of the Muslim man who is adult, has knowledge, and is legitimate. The leadership of passion is in the position of the leadership of the hypocrite, unbeliever and impious. The leadership of the self is in the position of the leadership of women. (595)

Knowing Our Rights by WLUML Available

Dear friends,

The Women Living Under Muslim Laws network is delighted to announce
that the following publication is now available to freely download
from the WLUML website:

Knowing Our Rights: Women, family, laws and customs in the Muslim
world – 3rd edition WLUML (Published: December 2006)

This third and completely revised version of the “Knowing Our Rights”
handbook is an essential resource for those taking a critical and
questioning approach to rights, laws, and constructions of womanhood
in Muslim countries and communities and beyond. “Knowing Our Rights”
forms part of the international synthesis of the Women & Law in the
Muslim world Programme and is based on some 10 years of field
experience, research and analysis by multi-disciplinary teams of
networkers in over 20 countries across Asia, Africa and the Middle
East.

The third edition of the publications is now available to download!

http://wluml.org/english/pubsfulltxt.shtml?cmd%5B87%5D=i-87-563155

A CALL TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE CHICAGO RELIGIOUS

January 13, 2009
We, the Chicago Coalition for Interreligious Learning: Catholics/Jews/Muslims Working Together, recognize that we live in perilous times. Wherever we turn, we see suffering, hatred, and the death of innocent people. We feel the anguish, grief,pain, anger and frustration within our religious communities. We, who believe that
all are created in the image of God, are deeply saddened by what is happening in our world as well as in our own country. We are especially concerned that our children are deeply affected and frightened not only by the images that they see of death, violence, devastation and the desecration of holy places of worship, but also by the voices they hear preaching hatred, violence and vengeance on a daily basis.

We abhor and condemn all acts of hatred against any religious and cultural community. We are committed to our common effort to tirelessly work toward ending violence, and to working together to strengthen the relationships we have among our religious communities.

Coalition members have worked for almost 6 years to promote interreligious teaching, learning and understanding among educators at all levels in our religious schools. We believe this is an essential step in creating a better future not only for our children, but for all who live in the Chicago area. Now more than ever, we believe in the critical importance of interfaith understanding as an authentic interpretation of religious ideals and we will and must continue to speak out in our
own communities and throughout the Chicago area.

We urge all Christians, Jews, Muslims and all people of good faith to join us in our interreligious efforts by reinforcing the Golden Rule at all places and at all times.

“In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is
the law and the prophets.” Matthew 7:12

“Not one of you will be a true believer who does not wish
for his brother the same that he wishes for himself.” Hadith Al-Bukhari 2:6

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Leviticus 19:18

Now, more than ever, we can, we will, we must keep working together to further our goals of teaching children and adults how to respect and value people of all religious faiths; how to listen to people of all faiths; how to build relationships of trust and understanding; and how to continue working together, despite difficult times and in
difficult situations, to make this a better world for all of us.

On behalf of the CCIRL, the Catholic/Jewish/Muslim coalition:
Ms. Esther Hicks; Rabbi Daniel Sherbill; Dr. Tasneema Ghazi; Ms. Esta G. Star, Chair

With Israel’s Military Operation in Gaza Continuing Unabated

By Rochelle Jones

AWID: Israel’s attacks on Gaza have taken a heavy toll. What is your understanding and analysis of the situation at the moment?

Islah Jad (IJ): The war situation in Gaza is another episode of a long series of wars and violence against the Palestinian people since their collective expulsion from their homes in 1948 to create and establish the state of Israel to solve what the Zionist Movement called the ‘Jewish problem’. Zionists saw that the solution for the persecution of Jews in Europe is to establish a Jewish Homeland and a state later on, on Palestinian land. This led to the expulsion of more than one million Palestinians now dispersed all over the globe. In Gaza, the majority of the population are refugees from villages and cities now inside Israel and close to Gaza (Majdal, Askalan, Ramleh etc).

Gazans endured and are still enduring non stop wars that started by their expulsion in 1948 when Israeli planes were attacking refugees in their march to find a secure place to stay; followed by the formation of bridage 101 headed at that time by the young officer Ariel Sharon who launched a non stop war against Gaza refugees in 1951; then the attack on Gaza of 1956; then the 1967 war that put Gaza under the Israeli control after it was under the Egyptian administration. Between 1970-1971, Sharon launched another war on Palestinian refugee camps to root out some Palestinian militants through which he demolished hundreds of poor houses in the refugee camps to make roads for the Israeli tanks. In 1987, the Palestinian uprising took place – starting from Gaza – and the West Bank followed.

Since then, Gazans have been under continuous Israeli attack, siege and oppression. The situation aggravated after the second legislative election in January 2006 when the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) was pressured by the Palestinian authorities and the Americans to join the elections. Hamas made a terrible mistake by winning the elections – they won more than 70% of Parliament seats and were heavily supported by the voters for their clean hand and for their national and political agenda. Since then, the Israelis have imposed siege on all Palestinian territories in the West Bank and Gaza. The Palestinian Authorities, seen as ‘moderates’ and supported by the Americans and some Arab regimes such as Egypt, persecuted Hamas and their supporters by closing down their offices, newspapers and journals. In addition, large numbers of their members and supporters were put in Palestinian jails and some of their leaders were assassinated by Israelis.

In June 2007, Hamas in Gaza took power when the Americans and Israelis refused a national unity government with Hamas and the persecution intensified against the movement. Since the take over of power by Hamas, a draconian siege was imposed on Gaza by Israel and Egypt. A conflict errupted when Israel kept targeting Hamas leaders and members by its policy of assassination. Egypt brokered a ‘ceasefire’ according to which Hamas stops firing locally made rockets against Israel and Israel stops its aggression and opens the borders to allow food, supplies, electricity, water and fuel to Gaza. Israel never respected the truce and kept intensifying its siege. Israel was killing Gazans slowly and continued attacking and killing Palestinians in Gaza and in the West Bank which led to the Hamas government in Gaza to stop the truce and resume its rockets against Israel. On December 27, 2008, Israel launched a total war against Gazans to destroy all infrastructure and displace thousands of families on the Rafah border (with Egypt).

The war is then just another episode in a long series of wars as part of an Israeli systematic policy to rid the Palestinians of their land and expel them to enlarge the pure Jewish state It is just another round of a continuous colonial policy to get rid of the Palestinian natives and control the land of Palestine.

AWID: How has it impacted you personally?

IJ: The lack of security affects every Palestinian. Me personally – I had to give birth to my youngest daughter before my due time because the Israeli Military Government refused to renew my visa in Ramallah, West Bank. That was in 1982 when the West Bank was under direct Israeli military rule. I was suffering from pre-eclampsia when the Military governor forced me to leave the country to renew my papers.

My university, Bir Zeit, where I teach has been closed by Israeli military orders more than 14 times, and it was closed completely for four years from 1988 to 1992. Many of our students were killed by the Israeli forces; many are in the Israeli jails. We have lots of difficulty to import books to our university – they have to be left in Israeli ports for months before reaching us; we have to pay high taxes to get our books and lab materials Since 1998 I can no longer conduct research in the Gaza Strip – we have to communicate via video conference or phones. The University lost all students coming from Gaza.

I have some graduate students from Gaza who are registered in the MA program on Gender and Development but could not finish their studies because they cannot reach the Women’s Studies Institute I am directing. Since 1992 I cannot reach the Arab part of Jerusalem which is the second holy place for all Muslims around the world. Jerusalem is an important health, education, commercial and religious centre for all Palestinians. I cannot reach Nablus south of Ramallah or Jenine without waiting for hours on the more than 700 Israeli checkpoints that separate all Palestinian cities from one another and all Palestinian villages from one another and from cities too.

AWID: How are Palestinian women in Gaza being impacted by the current crisis?

IJ: Palestinian women in Gaza are devastated by all measures. All of what we see on TV screens is weeping women over the coffins of their beloved children. Women in Gaza have no water, electricity, food, medicine, heat, fuel or shelter since the beginning of the war on Gaza on Dec 27th. Women have to fetch water, wood, food and shelter for their families. Many women are seen digging through the rubble of their destroyed homes to look for their buried children. Two mothers were killed and their young kids were hanging to their bodies for four days with no food or water until the Red Cross reached their home.

Whole families have been exterminated by Israeli artillery from air, sea and ground. The example of the Samouni family is just one case. The Samouni family work on their agricultural land at the outskirts of Gaza – it is a big extended family. The Israeli army asked the family last week to stay together in one house. More than 160 gathered together, and once they were all settled in one house the army opened fire, killing instantly 30 people – mostly women and children.

Tens of houses have been destroyed on their inhabitant’s heads. Many families moved to empty schools run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), but the Israeli artillery followed them in their new refuge and killed, in one example 42 Palestinians – again mostly women and children. This led the UNRWA director in Gaza to ask for an international investigation to document the so many war crimes committed against the civilians in Gaza.

AWID: Is there any solidarity and action coming from Israeli women’s rights activists?

Up to the moment of writing of this text, the war on Gaza is approved by 91% of the Israeli public. A few Israeli organizations are making efforts to stand by the Palestinians, in particular Physicians for Human Rights. Israeli women’s organisations at large did not move a finger to denounce the war crimes committed by their army and government against the Palestinian women and children. To this moment 930 Palestinians have been killed – 292 of them are children (32%) and 75 women (8.2%). However, no Israeli organisations for women or children have taken a clear cut position against this crazy war.

In such situations the brunt of the war and re-organisation of the social fabric is left to women. Again, Palestinian women will be busy making ends meet with the rising level of poverty and unemployment. All the dreams about law reform, strategic gender needs and mainstreaming gender… all will be on the shelves for years to come.

AWID: I have read about a planned demonstration in Israel against the Gaza operation organised by a collective of Israeli women’s organisations [1]. Do you know if this took place?

IJ: As far as I know the only big demonstration in Israel was initiated by Palestinians inside Israel. If the mentioned demonstration will take place, we are talking about a late initiative that allowed a criminal war to go on for about 20 days now during which all sorts of destruction has been inflicted on Palestinian civilians. In all cases, it is very good to hear about this initiative and good to see some women are approaching Livni to change her mind. I do hope that these small groups and weak voices inside Israel will have the chance to develop their power and make their voices heard among the Israeli public, after all, the Israeli soldiers who kill Palestinians with cold blood are the sons of mothers and husbands of wives etc… I would like to hear a call from all of these women to urge their men to stop killing and refuse executing orders.

AWID: Palestinian women have been demonstrating in Gaza – what impact have these brave demonstrations had – and do you know of any other strategies women are using to mobilise and raise their voices against the violence?

IJ: Many women in Gaza have risked their lives to save the besieged ‘targeted’ groups in Gaza. Women, through their mass mobilization, managed to save many houses from being demolished by Israeli artillery. Women are mobilized to provide vital emergency services for women in Gaza, women are also active in the media and mass communication to make their voices heard against this war.

AWID: This protracted conflict seems to never end. So many strategies have been employed in the past to bring about peace – what do you think is the right path?

IJ: Very simple. More than 15 security council resolutions have been issued since 1948 to solve all aspects of the Palestinian cause that include the status of Jerusalem, borders, land, refugees, water and natural resources and a state for the Palestinians. None of these resolutions have been implemented including the last one – number 1860 – that was issued on January 8, 2009, asking for an immediate ceasefire. To this moment the killing is business as usual because Israel has never abided by any UN resolution and has never been punished for not implementing any of these resolutions. It is about time to sanction and boycott the state of Israel to force this state to abide by the UN resolutions and the international community. Boycott Israeli academics, artists, sports clubs and individuals, products and visitors.

* Islah Jad is a Ph.D holder from SOAS (School of African and Asian Studies), University of London, she lectures on gender and politics in the Women’s Studies Institute and Cultural Studies Department, Bir Zeit University, Ramallah, West Bank, Palestine.

[1] See http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/129153 for the full article about the proposed demonstration.

Join the Call for a Cease Fire in Gaza

The following letter from Rabbi Michael Lerner was sent to a friend calling for a cease fire in Gaza and for President-elect Obama to call for an international conference to establish a lasting peace with the Israel/Palestine conflict.

Dear Friends,
Will you help us buy a full page ad in the NY Times calling for a cease fire and for president-elect Obama to call for an international conference to once and for all provide a settlement to the Israel/Palestine conflict and to create peace with all Israel’s neighbors?
Even if you don’t have any money, you can sign the ad. But it will only become an ad if we can raise about $60,000, and that will take us little people stretching our pocket books far beyond our normal capacities. Could you donate $1,000? $500? $300? $100? $50? $25? Whatever you can afford would be important and helpful.
You can read the text of the ad here and see what it would look like as a full page ad here. You can sign up and donate here (all these links can also be reached by clicking on the left side of the page at www.tikkun.org). Or to donate you can send a check to Tikkun or your credit card info (including expiration date and security code) to Peace Ad, c/o Tikkun, 2342 Shattuck Ave, Suite 1200, Berkeley, Ca. 94704. Or you can call in your credit card info to Kay@tikkun.org: 510 644 1200 9-5 Pacific Standard Time.
Timing is everything-we need to move as quickly as possible. Send this request to everyone on all of your email lists, PLEASE. Remind them that even if they don’t have a penny to their names, they can still sign the ad at www.tikkun.org.
Many thanks for your continued support. Together we are already making a difference!
Love and blessings,
Michael

Rabbi Michael Lerner
RabbiLerner@Tikkun.org
web: www.tikkun.org
email: info@spiritualprogressives.org

Statement by Israeli Women’s Organization To Stop the War

We womens organizations from a broad spectrum of political views demand an end to the bombing and other tools of death, and call for the immediate start of deliberations to talk peace and not make war. The dance of death and destruction must come to an end. We demand that war no longer be an option, nor violence a strategy, nor killing an alternative. The society we want is one in which every individual can lead a life of security personal, economic, and social.

It is clear that the highest price is paid by women and others from the periphery geographic, economic, ethnic, social, and cultural who now, as always, are excluded from the public eye and dominant discourse.

The time for women is now. We demand that words and actions be conducted in another language.

Ahoti- For Women in Israel

Anuar- Jewish and Arab Women Leadership
Artemis- Economic Society for Women

Aswat- Palestinian Gay Women

Bat Shalom

Coalition of Women for Peace

Economic Empowerment for Women

Feminancy: College for Womens Empowerment

Feminist Activist Group Jerusalem

Feminist Activist Group Tel Aviv

International Womens Commission: Israeli Branch

Isha Lâ•˙Isha- Haifa Feminist Center

Itach: Women Lawyers for Social Justice

Kol Ha-Isha- Jerusalem Womens Center

Mahut Center- Information, Training, and Employment for Women

Shin Movement- Equal Representation for Women

Supportive Community- Women’s Business Development Center
TANDI Movement of Democratic Women for Israel

Tmura: The Israeli Antidiscrimination Legal Center

University against Harassment” Tel Aviv

Women and their Bodies

Womens Parliament

Womens Spirit- Financial Independence for Women Victims of Violence